Ed Gonzalez, Interim Executive Director

Ed has 20 years of experience working in the environmental and health fields, managing programs/projects in the states of Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, California, and now Washington. Ed holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Texas at El Paso. While working as Program Manager at University of Texas at El Paso, Ed’s project work included: wetland restoration; providing access to potable water and health care for impoverished families in Juarez, Mexico; the introduction of green building concepts to local builders; and the management of the Southwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center.

Ed has also served as the Program Director of the Western Sustainability and Pollution Prevention Network (WSPPN), a cooperative alliance of pollution prevention (P2) programs throughout EPA Region 9, which is based out of the University of Nevada, Reno. His professional areas of interest include:

Green Building

Environmental Justice

Green Urban Planning

Organic Farming

Outside of work, Ed enjoys a variety of outdoor activities which include, fishing, camping, hiking, and cooking delicious southwestern dishes. He also enjoys listening to music and spending time with his family.

Michelle Gaither, Industrial Engineer

Michelle Gaither has worked in the field of environmental technical assistance for fifteen years, helping industry, government, and institutions reduce waste, pollution, toxics, and resource consumption.

Michelle has an M.S. in Environmental Science and a B.S. in industrial engineering, and career experience in both areas. The two disciplines complement each other in addressing environmental issues and solutions. Currently, at PPRC, projects include Integrating lean manufacturing and environmental methods for synergistic results, systematically evaluating safer chemical alternatives, and general research, writing, and sleuthing solutions for PPRC’s rapid response inquiries around toxics and waste reduction.

Prior to PPRC, Michelle’s work experience included: management of research projects for the Clean Washington Center to develop applications for using recycled materials; Support of the labwide “Environmental Sustainability Project” for Battelle / Pacific Northwest National Labs at the Hanford site; and, manufacturing engineering at a successful electronics company.

Beyond PPRC, Michelle enjoys raising four children, playing and coaching sports, and volunteering with local school and environmental organizations.

Ken Grimm, Industry Outreach Manager

Ken joined PPRC after working extensively in the manufacturing sector. He draws on this expertise while working with various industry sectors, and the challenges they face while simultaneously becoming more competitive and “green.” Contact Ken for information on:

Technical and Regulatory Analysis

Business Drivers and Incentives

P2 Barriers and Opportunities in Manufacturing

P2 Results Measurement

Technology Diffusion

Environmental Management Systems

After leaving college, where his major emphasis was psychology (P2 is all about behavior change, right?!), Ken spent some time in the autobody trade before embarking on a seventeen-year journey in the metal fabrication industry. After stints as a lead painter and supervisor, Ken spent the last six years acquiring a hat collection which included ETC (Employee Transportation Coordinator), ISO 9000 Internal Auditor, Safety Director, Human Resources Manager, and Environmental Coordinator. He received an award of recognition from the mayor for his work as an ETC and has many years of no violation inspections from the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency to his credit, including one which called the facility a model company in the four-county area they regulate.

Outside of work Ken enjoys a variety of activities with friends and family, including fishing, camping, hiking, backpacking, cooking and motorcycle riding. He builds computers as a hobby and currently has 50+ systems in the homes of friends, relatives and neighbors.

Marjorie Martz-Emerson, Science Advisor

Marjorie Martz-Emerson recently retired from Hewlett-Packard after more than 34 years of technical environmental assessment and regulatory analysis work.

At HP, Marjorie provided environmental support to product research, development, and manufacturing teams worldwide. Her most recent role was the Materials Compliance Program Manager for the Americas Region. She was formerly the air quality program manager leading studies evaluating volatile organic compound emissions across the portfolio of HP printers and presses. She also served as the product stewardship manager for inkjet supplies, and as a product steward for a wide range of printing and imaging devices.

Prior to HP, Marjorie had a wide range of experience with the University of California (Environmental Health and Safety Director), Los Alamos National Laboratory (Environmental Surveillance Group Leader), Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (senior environmental scientist), the EPA Office of Research and Development, (TSCA test methods development), state government (Air Quality Program Manager for Stationary Sources), and consulting on a wide range of air quality, toxicology, substance fate and transport, remediation, and environmental impact issues.

She has a master degree in environmental health and a doctorate in environmental science and engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Adelina Balog, Business Manager

Adelina Balog has over 10 years of experience in financial analysis, forecasting, and long-term planning. Prior to PPRC, she worked as a Senior Financial Analyst at companies such as Philips Healthcare and Microsoft. In addition, she volunteered at local non-profit organizations (Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability, 501 Commons, and the Southern Sudanese Community of Washington). She has a strong personal commitment to sustainability, with a focus on “triple bottom line” reporting.

Adelina has a MBA in Finance and Environmental Management, from University of Washington. Outside of work Adelina loves traveling, cooking recipes from different parts of the world,and going outdoors with her husband and two kids.

Cyrus Philbrick, Communications Manager

Cyrus has passions for environmental health and writing. He is excited to continue to hone his abilities in these fields while working as the Communications Manager for PPRC. Cyrus has written and edited a variety of publications, such as: magazine and newspaper stories, grants, company blogs, educational guides, and newsletters. In San Francisco, he helped manage the afterschool programs of America SCORES Bay Area, a nonprofit that promotes literacy and health in public elementary schools.

Cyrus got a BA in English from Hamilton College. He recently returned to school to get an MS in Environmental Health from the Cyprus International Institute, run by the Harvard School of Public Health. He is new to the Northwest. He loves root vegetables, lentils, and the outdoors.

Mitchell Frister, Oregon Manager

Mitch brings to PPRC dynamic experience in technical assistance and community outreach. A Portland State University grad, Mitch developed innovative recycling systems for the Port of Portland and Portland Community College. As a Recycle at Work Specialist with Clackamas County, he conducted sustainability outreach to hundreds of businesses. As manager of the EcoBiz program, Mitch is excited to push his sustainability outreach into new fields.

Brittney Wendell, Environmental Outreach Specialist

Brittney brings a background in conservation biology with several years of outreach and field work experience. Prior to PPRC, she worked for an environmental consulting firm in the Bay Area, where she trained crews working in sensitive habitats and monitored public utilities projects for compliance with air, waste, and stormwater regulations. She has also conducted several seasons of wildlife surveys (the majority being focused on birds), managed a nesting bird database, and broke a 25-year record for the most raptors banded and released in a day at the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. She holds a B.S. in Conservation & Resource Studies from U.C. Berkeley.

As the Environmental Outreach Specialist of the EcoBiz program, Brittney is excited to work closely with businesses and assist in building a symbiotic relationship between our economy and the environment.

John Harland, Encore Fellow

John last served as a Principal Environmental Engineer with Intel Corporation where he worked to increase effectiveness and efficiency of Environmental, Health and Safety programs. He was previously manager of Design for the Environment programs in new manufacturing technology development – to set and ensure new semiconductor manufacturing processes meet environmental performance targets and don’t cause environmental problems when transferred to high volume manufacturing factories. Previously at Intel, he developed the Pollution Prevention elements for the Pollution Prevention in Permitting Project (P4) – a collaboration between USEPA, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, and Intel to develop permits that promote pollution prevention, and has had responsibility for environmental compliance at manufacturing facilities and environmental design of new factories

He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Edinburgh, UK, and a Master of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. John and his wife, Janet, have two daughters and enjoy travel, bicycle riding and getting into the great outdoors.

Jim Moomaw, Encore Fellow

Deva Bodas, Encore Fellow

Deva Bodas retired from Intel as Principal Engineer and the lead architect for Energy Efficiency and power management for servers, data centers, and high performance computing. Seventeen years ago, Deva envisioned power thermal issues with servers and successfully convinced Intel to make energy efficiency and power capping a priority for server systems. He then created and delivered pioneering technologies to improve energy efficiency of servers and data. Deva has been issued 32 US patents, and has been speaker at various conferences such as The Green Grid, 7×24 Exchange, Intel Developer conference, AFCOM, and Critical Facilities Round Table. He has a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and has over 32 years of working in the computer and communication industry. He is passionate about addressing Climate issues.